ya really writes: Since a few days ago, Amazon has put a freeze on all new reviews and ratings of Spore. At first, many were optimistic, believing it was just a glitch in Amazon's site. However, as time wore on, more doubts were cast. Today, the truth came out as Amazon customers found that reviews and overall rating had been wiped out and totally deleted. Ironically, under Amazon's review guidelines is this:

General Review Creation Guidelines

Amazon wants your opinions to be heard

I guess Amazon cares more about making a few extra dollars than allowing their customers to know the truth about the products they stock.

ya really writes: My family has one of those BUGs (Big Ugly Dishes) sitting in their back yard still. The other day, they asked me if I would take it apart for them. I was wondering, aside from simply recycling it, are there any alternatives for its use? It was one of the last made before DirectTV and Dish took over satellite broadcasting and even has a digital receiver. I'd say it was made around 1996 or so.

ya really writes: Sadly, this headline was not pulled from The Onion. Our technology challenged Republican nominee for US President has finally decided to try out a computer. Despite attempts to shrug off his C. Montgomery Burns like appearance on innovation and popular culture, McCain still lacks the knowledge of how to use email. Although McCain may be ready for sites such a twitter by 2012, one prankster seems to already be stumping for him according to wired.com:

The latest entry [by "McCain"], from a month ago, reads: "I'm going to the bathroom before my next speech! Coffee ran right through me!"

What's next on McCain's agenda? Perhaps it will be discovering there's a New Mexico.

ya really writes: According to the RIAA the top 4 out of 5 colleges they accuse of condoning music piracy are public schools. This list is as follows (ordered by letters sent to students:

The Ohio State University (2336)

University of Central Arkansas (1811)

Michigan State (1539)

University of Hartford (private) (1467)

University of Texas at Austin (1451)

Ohio State officials speculated that they received so many notices because OSU is the largest school in the country, with about 60,000 students. However, Ohio State didn't make the recording industry association's first list of top offenders, which tallied notices from Sept. 1, 2007, to Nov. 9, 2007. The recording industry can't identify the students, so it notifies the school about activity on its computer network. The trade group relies on the school to have the song in question removed.

The RIAA replied to the news by stating, "It gives us a broad snapshot of the extent to which piracy is a problem on a campus."

Ohio State has tried to limit piracy by blocking ports, limiting bandwidth, disscussing the problem with freshmen and even started their own, legal service, but apparently it isn't helping or students just don't care.

ya really writes: Accountability Now, a group of activist from both the right and the left, announced an unprecendented campaign this Tuesday to hold Democrats accountable for caving into the Bush admin's plans for domestic spying. According to wired.com:

Progressive author and lawyer Glenn Greenwald, who writes for Salon.com, and blogger Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, are spearheading the effort. They've hired the political media consultants behind a historic Ron Paul online fundraising drive to organize a similar "moneybomb," set to go off Aug. 8.

"That is the day Richard Nixon resigned, and the idea is that 35 years ago when you did this kind of stuff, you were forced out of office, and now congress drops everything to make your crimes legal," says Hamsher in an interview.

Similar grassroots drives have been made by other groups, such as Blue America PAC, of which Firedoglake is a part, has already hired Advomatic and Advomatic Laboratories in New York City, to create a VOIP widget that lets voters call their senators ask them what their stance is on the spy legislation, and to urge them to vote for an amendment that would remove the telecom immunity provision.

So far, 1,600 calls have been made using the tool, which launched Wednesday, says Matt Browner Hamlin, Advomatic Laboratories' founder.

The group had previously ran a automated call campaign in late June against House Majority Leader and Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer, who organized the vote for the legislation. And it's run television ads against Reps. John Barrow, D-Ga., and Chris Carney, D-Pa — the so-called Blue Dog Democrats who pushed for the legislation.

Just as a reminder to anyone who might have forgot, the Senate vote on this is Wednesday. Call your congress critter and make your voice known while there is still time.

ya really writes: "The Department of Justice is contemplating allowing the FBI to target Americans for investigation and interrogation without evidence or probable cause. According to wired.com, "The agency would be allowed to profile targets based on their race and activities, such as travel to the Middle East or any other part of the world associated with terrorism. But race would be only one factor in the decision to open an investigation."

A Department of Justice spokesman was quoted saying, "Targeting a person based on race, of course, would seem to be a clear violation of civil rights. A DoJ official told the AP that the guidelines wouldn't really give the FBI any more authority than it already has to create "threat assessments" of individuals."

ya really writes: "According to wired.com, foes of the Telecom Anmesty Bill have mounted a campaign on Barack Obama's own website. Though only being created on 25 June, it has grown to be the fifth largest group, just short of Women for Obama. Although it is widely known that Obama changed his stance from opposing telecom immunity to supporting it, many have not given up hope of him switching sides once again.

Meanwhile, left-leaning bloggers and libertarian activists have joined forces to raise $325,000 in the fight against the legislation.

Their Blue America PAC is already targeting House Democrats who voted for the bill, including placing a full-page ad in the Washington Post slamming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who claimed credit for creating the so-called compromise bill. The coalition plans to follow-up with a Ron Paul-style money bomb, which will be used to target key Senators, according to Greenwald.

Democrats who switched from opposing to supporting legal amnesty to telecoms that aided the government's warrantless wiretapping program received twice as much money, on average, from telcom political action groups than Democrats whose opposed the idea in March and again last Friday, according to an analysis of campaign donations by Maplight.org.

I guess that explains the sudden "change of heart" in our Congress Critters.